Today was my electronic transfer of $10 to my long term savings account, bringing my total up to $444.34. I am hoping to add $20 tomorrow (payday) so I can meet my June goal of $60 added above the weekly automatic $10.

I counted out the money in my change jar and then rolled coins. I have $18 in rolled coin to deposit into the freezer money account. I'd like to add an extra $5 to that, also. $209.14 + $18.00 will bring it up to $227.14 + $5.00 will bring it up to $232.14. We are buying fireworks tomorrow so that is why I can't guarantee the extra $5 or even the extra $20.

As for the fireworks, I recieved a coupon in the mail where I can get several different fireworks as BOGO free so we will use that. Last year we spent $150 on fireworks, and I'd like to get just as many but hopefully for $75 or so. Every 4th we buy fireworks and take them out to my sister's house. They get a bunch, too. Then my DH (if he's home and not in Alaska, he'll miss it this year), my BIL and the oldest of their boys lights them off.

Her oldest boy has moved to Arizona 3 weeks ago so he will miss it, too. But he's 20 (graduated with his A.A. through Running Start at 18 and is taking a correspondence course to get his B.A., currently, after living a year in Arizona he will apply for one of the universities as a local, much cheaper, and his correspondence credits will transfer as it is one based in Arizona and he checked).

So only BIL will be lighting them off this year. And this may be the last year we do this at all. BIL recently got a new job (after 20 years at the last one) down South that pays a lot more and has benefits and education reimbursement, so they are looking for a house in the Everett to Lynnwood area. They have to sell their house in this county, too. BIL is staying with relatives and comes home on weekends and he gets holidays off, also, which he did not get before.

We don't go to the fireworks shows anymore. The last one we went to had so many rude, drunk, stupid people I just hate subjecting my kids to that. Truthfully, the rude, stupid people bothered me more than the drunk ones. The one that really got me was rude, stupid, and drunk. This younger woman (maybe 21, old enough to know better, anyway) who lit up a cigarette in the bathroom line (about 50 people long and she was with friends who could have held her place while she stepped away from people), and stuck it in my then five year old son's face. It came within an inch of his eye before I knocked her hand away and it fell out of her hand. Then she got all indignant, "Hey that's my cigarette, (expletive)!" And I said "And that was my child's eye you just stuck it in and my child's ears you just swore in front of. If I hadn't knocked it away, you'd have been looking at paying some serious medical bills. My child's vision is more important than your addiction."

Well, she grumbled on for a bit, still swearing and making a jerk of herself, while her friends were trying to shut her up) until one of the plainclothes policemen who was in line a few people back and was working the event told her he could arrest her for disorderly conduct, public obscenity, and quite possibly underage drinking. And someone else in the line said, "Too bad you can't arrest her for being an idiot!"

Well, she got all huffy, stomped off into the woods while lighting another cigarette (it hadn't rained in about six weeks at that point and we had a burn ban on because everything was tinder dry, so not the smartest place to light up) and went to the bathroom in plain sight of everyone, though I think she thought the foot high shrub gave her privacy. Maybe if she's actually been all the way behind it. Well, the officer didn't and she got arrested for public indecency or something (same as the flasher law).

Anyway, that just really turned me off the whole thing, plus they were charging $20 to get in. I didn't mind when it was a $10 donation for carload or even $15, but now if I wanted to I could go to the one in Bellingham for free, its not worth it. Plus, it may have gone up again.

Okay, tangent.

So, I also want to buy another flat of berries and a couple buckets of cherries tomorrow from the farm stands, so we'll see.

I added $40 today to my long term savings account, bringing my total up to $370.52. I am still looking for the check I misplaced from Send Earnings, which is also earmarked for that account and is $49 and some odd cents. I also received my 4th Shell gas card from MyPoints today.

I added $27.95 to my freezer money account, bringing the total of it up to $209.14.

I received my first box of checks for the new checking account and my first debit card ever that goes with it, along with my pin. I had everything shipped to the CU because it is safer than having it shipped here. We have kids that like to fool with the mailboxes out here and I have found anything from a chewed up nerf football to a paper plate with a pizza crust folded up in it in my mailbox before. So far no mail has turned up missing, but still.

My 4th Shell gas card from MyPoints arrived today. So I now have a total of $50 in gas cards and $20 in Bed Bath and Beyond cards.

With today's auto deposit into savings of $10, my new long term account total is $330.52. I have not gotten around to opening an ING account. I have been waiting for the checks to come in on my new checking account first. They have finally arrived and I will pick them up tomorrow, which is payday. The CU said it didn't have the routing number until the checks came. I don't know if that is true or not, but I certainly didn't have it until they came.

I'm so far behind in so many things right now, due to my back being wonky. But it is finally feeling better so I am getting caught up. Or starting to. Yesterday I was able to tackle about a third of the weeds in the garden. Six kitchen garbage bags full, which my neighbor hauled to the green drop off in town. It takes garden waste and composts it ($2 a truckload, neighbor was going anyway) at very high temperatures and then uses the compost in the parks and gardens and roadside plantings throughout the city.

Last year was the first year they had to charge for it, but its still a great way to get rid of stuff for cheap and know that it is going to be used to good purpose. Normally I will compost it myself but this stuff had seed heads and tap roots and an annoying pernicious local fern that can propagate itself from the smallest piece of root left over, and my compost pile does not get hot enough to kill off the seed heads, I am a slow composter (or a lazy one) and only turn my pile a couple times a year. It still turns out okay, just takes longer.

I am also getting caught up on dishes again. I could not stand for long at the sink without putting strain on the tweaked muscles and as it was the kids had to put stuff in the bottom for me and hand stuff up to me when it was time to empty the dishwasher. Now I can do it myself. We've been eating a lot of the stockpile of TV dinners so that I didn't get overwhelmed with new dirty dishes while tackling the old.

Yesterday I made the decision that I could not wait any longer for it to stop raining so I used my dryer for what couldn't fit on the two shower curtain rods in the bathrooms. Still have so much to do. 3 weeks with a bad back and DH in Alaska for all but 5 days of it, does not a tidy household make. And he will not be back for another 6 to 8 days. Sigh. Its a good job and it pays well, but sometimes I hate it.

Not much else going on. Tomorrow is payday, so I will deposit at least $10 into the freezer account and mabye $20 or $30 into long term savings, we'll see after I pay that set of bills.

I'm going to wait until the absolute last minute before I pay the homeowner's association dues, which is due the last day of July. It looks like the association is going to fall apart, the golf course was sold awhile ago and they've closed the pool due to the roof falling in and mold, so there seems no further purpose to paying dues. They don't maintain the greenways or the roads like they are supposed to and I don't want them to go belly-up with my half year dues in their account. So I will play it by ear.

We still want to refinance the house so we will probably pay the dues anyway if they haven't fallen apart, because if we don't they can put on lien on our property. Can't refinance with a lien. Plus we have always kept current with our dues, though it seems no one else has. Probably why the pool problem hasn't been fixed. Whatever happens, happens. I'll have the money set aside whatever the course.

I got my first payment from Vindale for their market research surveys! $50. Whoopee. We had to open another checking/debit account so we could transfer it from my new paypal account, since DH already has our regular checking account hooked up to his paypal account. I was planning on it anyway, as this new one is hooked to the savings account our long-term savings is in. When the checks come in I can write my first check to open my new online account with the good interest rate. So it will be a week before the routing information comes through so I can actually move it from paypal to my checking, and then to my savings until I set up the online one.

But when it does come through it means my long-term savings will be at $310.52. Not bad.

I also deposited the $17.11 into my freezer money account bringing it up to $181.19.

I have also been issued a check from another company that should arrive in the mail sometime in the next week. It is just under $50, that will be added to long-term savings.

In my quest to find extra income sources, I am currently reading the book, "The Mom's Guide to Earning and Saving Thousands on the Internet." It is interesting. I found out about 3/4 of this information on my own or through others from this site, but it gave me 1/4 of the book more information to investigate further that I had not discovered on my own. I am not quite finished with it, but I am done with the earning part, now its going into the shopping, rebates, and couponing part.

Today's electronic funds transfer of $10 brought my long-term savings account up to $260.52. I still have $20 set aside to add into that account next time I make it that CU. I just haven't done it, yet. Tomorrow is payday, so hopefully I will get it in then. I also still have $17.11 set aside to add to the freezer money account, also.

Today was payday.

Paid:
$1000 to mortgage
$300 to Chase Visa
$40 fee for soccer camp for Rose
$20.50 to Lowe's (used my gift card of $10 off a $25 purchase) to buy 2 caladiums and a canna
$9.98 for 2 gallons of organic milk

Have set aside:
$20 for long-term savings
$17.11 for freezer money account (this was the amount left over in the checkbook from the previous paycheck)
I will deposit those on Tuesday as I didn't make it into town in time to do that today.

I met my first savings goal today. My electronic funds transfer added ten dollars to my savings account, bringing long-term savings up to $250.52. Tomorrow is payday so I will add in some more, probably just ten or fifteen, but I am excited that I am 25% of the way to $1000. This seemed so far away when I started the ten dollar a week thing, adding whatever else I could as I went. I will also add a bit to the freezer money account, maybe 20, tomorrow. I'll see after I do the bills and pay the mortgage.

I did put the rolled coin in my purse last night and an extra roll of quarters that I had accumulated in the 2 weeks I had been forgetting to take the coin in and deposit it. So the total deposit was $25.50, bringing the account up to $164.08. There must have been a smidge of interest dumped in at some point, also. I don't keep up on this account much because up until April, it didn't have much in it, is only a savings account, so the money is either there or not, seldom going in or out. Well, it is still seldom going out, but its going in with a bit more frequency now.

My son had his last rehearsal before the recital today, well except for dress rehearsal, so I ran to the CU during that time. My daughter didn't go to school today or I would have taken in the cans. I just didn't want to drag her around too much. Both because she isn't feeling well and because I still don't feel well, either.

Oh, well, I'll get them in one of these days. I loaned $5 to my neighbor for gas. I don't know if I'll ever see it again, but I did it anyway.

I also bought a big container of egg flower soup at the one MSG-free Chinese restaurant in the county. This is my major comfort food when sick. There is enough for six meals and it cost $5.24. This and Mrs. Grass should get me through this cold.

Didn't spend on anything else.

Today was a humid 73, which is in a lot of ways worse than a dry 87, but no kind of day could have made me not be a little cranky today. Woke up with a sore throat. Not the kind that makes you want to scream every time you swallow, but the kind that is there all the time, kind of in the background, but it still hurts, just not the type of hurt you can't function with. What we call a "summer" cold, onset with weird weather swings. Even ibuprofen didn't dull it down, but fortunately ice cream and popsicles did help freeze it out. I hope it is better tomorrow.

We had two big thunderstorms tonight. One came through at 8 p.m. and dumped so much water on us that it was coming over the sides of the gutters as well as down the downspouts. I ended up taking photos with the digital camera because DH doesn't believe me when I say water goes between the house and the gutter as well as over the free-standing side of the gutter. He's never home when it happens! Digital camera has the ability to record small bits of live action, too. Now maybe I can get him to put up the new gutters I have been whining for for 2 years. He has a Home Depot gift card he got from work as some kind of thank you for something, so it won't even cost anything, the card will more than cover it. I think he just wants to buy a miter saw, but honestly, we don't need a miter saw. We can borrow one from his Dad. He isn't even a tool guy, but sometimes he wants what he wants. I suppose we all do. But the freak storms are fading the paint on the side of the house and so the gutters are a need.

The other storm came through at ten. This one went through in about ten minutes instead of a half hour like the first one. The thunder wasn't as loud, either. Didn't see lightning with either one.

Did spend some unnecessasary money today, but less than $20. I was feeling too lousy to cook so for lunch we drove up to Lynden. We got food from the dollar menu from McD's (with enough for dinner, too) and ice cream from DQ and I took a different route home than we drove there, so we had a lot of nice scenery to look at. We also went by a gas station that was at $3.16 a gallon so we filled up there, so that cost $45, but that is a planned gas expense that I would have paid out tomorrow anyway. That is 3 cents cheaper than the cheapest one in Bellingham. Going for the drive helped us all with the stir crazies, too.

In the afternoon we cleaned out my son's room and took out a bunch of toys he has grown out of which we will either garage sale or freecycle, depends on how much work I feel like doing. Today's attitude would say just chuck it on freecycle, but I sure wouldn't mind getting a little cash out of it. Or I suppose I could list it on almostfree, might actually get a bit better than garage sale prices for it then.

Some time in the evening my son's friend R came over for about an hour and a half, so they were happily occupied for a bit so I could catch up on my emails and keep my crankiness to myself.

Not much else happened tonight, other than watching a series finale of my favorite show, that really should have been 2 hours long instead of one. It deserved that, but I at least enjoyed the hour they did have. If this show were still on next year I'd have a heck of a time giving up cable next month.

Tomorrow my son has his last class before the recital and maybe if I go put the rolled coin in my purse right now, I'll actually take it to town with me and deposit it in the freezer money account. Here's hoping.

Today was payday and I didn't have as much time as I normally do since I started off the morning with that massage. She even gave me an extra 20 minutes over the hour (free) because we were having such a good conversation that she lost track of time and realized when the hour was up she hadn't gotten done all that she wanted. Gotta love that. She said I was in pretty bad shape and should probably come in again next week. I'll see how this plays out first.

I went to the CU that I keep my freezer money account in and made a $25 deposit, bringing that up to $138.58, must have earned some interest on that odd change. I had already paid back the money that I'd borrowed for gas the one week. I still managed to not only forget to grab the aluminum cans to cash in, but the rolled coin as well. I swear, I don't think straight in the mornings. I'll have to take them out to the car the night before I go in next.

Then I went to the CU that has my long-term savings and deposited the $10 that I had set aside previously and an additional $15, total deposit of $25. That account is up to $240.52, so all I need is $15 more and I can open an ING account. I have to leave $5 in the account to keep it open.

After that I went to the cheap gas station, since it is near the CU and topped off the tank. It was at $3.19 as compared to $3.29 everywhere else in the county. Gas costs more here than it does in Seattle. It's because of all the border traffic, we get a lot of Canadian shoppers, so they up the cost to sell to us. It annoys me, because the refinery is in our county so shipping costs are virtually nothing and yet they squeeze us. But that is a rant for another day.

Then went grocery shopping at Fred Meyer. They had beef ribs on sale for .98/lb and Alaska king crab for $6.99/lb, so I got some to freeze. I know I'm not supposed to be buying meat right now, but all we have left in the freezer is chicken, beef steaks, and some seafood. We do like a little more variety. Did not buy any produce but did get milk as they had the Organic Valley milk on for $4.29/gallon, which is over $1 off, so I got two.

I had been hoping to get to Costco today but ran out of time and had to get back for the bus. Of course, I'd been hoping to get there in that sort of I really don't want to go there but need to go there type way. But I always overspend there. I've done better the last few times I've gone and I only need 3 things when I do go, but still the temptations there can be overwhelming.

I'll think about going tomorrow. Rose is going to an all day birthday party/barbecue at one of her best friend's houses tomorrow so it would be a good day for just me and Tobias to go in. Rose always hates that she can't have the samples because she has so many food allergies it isn't worth it for her to try their samples. But they always look so good to her. I can take them or leave them, and usually leave them. My son, however, can make it into lunch time. He'll eat anything, my little bottomless pit. I don't know where he puts it, that kid has a racing metabolism.

Power bill came. Those extra hot steamy showers my son was having when he was so ill and couldn't breathe gave us a hit. But it was still lower than before we started conserving. The next one should be lower again. I'm thinking about getting a water heater timer and we will be getting a water heater blanket as soon as DH comes home this time. We want to keep that power bill down as low as we can.

I just hope the last few days of super heat from the sun that made us have several fans on full time isn't too expensive. At least the weather broke. We had a little rain today but mostly its been a humid, overcast 63 F. So not too much going on on the fan front. Still I shouldn't complain, at least we don't have to worry about A.C. around here. That can get really pricey.

The automatic deposit was made into long-term savings today, bringing it up to $215. I haven't gotten around to placing the last $10 left over from the previous pay cycle in, but I have it ready to go for when I go to town tomorrow.

I will also be adding some to the freezer money but won't know for sure how much until I do the budget tomorrow. Probably $25, though. I also have $15.50 in rolled coin and I still haven't taken in the aluminum cans, so hopefully I won't be so scatter-brained again that I forget. I mean they are in a big hamper on my front porch. It's mesh, see-through and I have to walk right past it to get out of the house. You would think it would not be so difficult for me to remember.

Tomorrow will be a busy day, I have a lot to do. My morning will be peaceful, though. I have a therapuetic massage scheduled, and I had thought about cancelling it and not paying the $45 for it, my back is really messed up from turning over the compost pile and it has aggravated the old injury, so I guess I'll just have to suffer along and go in, LOL.

DH called and he will be working an extra week, so that is 21 days straight, 14 hour days, anything over 8 hours a day is overtime pay and all of Memorial Day will be overtime pay, also. We'll be able to have a little breathing room, but not much as our CC&R half year dues coming up in July and I really hope the old home owner's association goes belly-up. I could do without the dues. I already maintain the utility easement between my house and the neighbor's house that they are supposed to maintain.

Actually, the new neighbors said they will help with that once they get a lawnmower and even borrowed my lawn mower and did the mowing of it and mowed their lawn last weekend, and today they gave me a one gallon gas container, filled up and borrowed the mower again and did the easement again. I think I am going to like them. And it sure beats an empty house (twice) or a domestic violence situation, which we have seen since we moved here.

Also have coming due half year car insurance towards the end of June and house insurance due the end of July. So like I said, some breathing room, but not much.

The usual $10 deposit was electronically transferred into my long-term savings account today, bringing me over the $200 mark. It now has a grand total of $205 in it. And I will add another $10 tomorrow as that is what is left that I hadn't spent after paying all the bills.

The new pay cycle begins tomorrow. It will be small, only 4.5 hours, but one car has 3/4 of a tank and the other has 8 gallons. That is enough to get me through the rest of this week and until next week's Friday. Soccer ends Saturday, so I will only be driving to town twice next week for dance classes. Well, three times, twice on Friday to do banking stuff and mortgage stuff. But we're good.

I am hoping to remember to take the aluminum cans in tomorrow and will add that to my freezer money.

I am going to be getting a check sometime between the 15th and the 30th of this month for doing product evaluations and one issued the first week of June, also from doing product evaluations and trial offers. Between the two of them there should be just slightly over $100 and that will start my new laptop savings account. We took my laptop in to have it looked out, but they can't even get a replacement fan for it.

It seems so wrong to me somehow that a laptop bought 4.5 years ago that is in otherwise perfect shape internally, and is held together pretty well, except for having added a bit of electrical tape because one of the things that covers the wires broke off and it made little sparks when I opened it (only, I say, LOL), can't be used anymore.

It's also a big annoyance because I have so many files that will have to be transferred. Oh, well. At least I didn't lose my files. And I am looking forward to getting that new laptop when I've got the money saved.

I didn't spend any money today. Did use gas to get to and from soccer practice for my son.

I found an old coin jar that went missing about 2 years ago and it had enough dimes and quarters to roll up one each, so I will have $15 more to add to the freezer money account. Cool. That will go in on Friday.

Deposited $11 worth of rolled coin to my freezer money account. Of course, I forgot the envelope with the bills in it at home. I took it out of my purse so I wasn't carrying it around and then forgot I didn't have it. Oh, well, it will keep until Friday when more banking stuff needs to be done.

I still need to take the aluminum cans in, but can do that Friday when I make my next trip to town. I just need to remember to do it.

Signed up for 3 trial offers today:
Great Fun for $1 for 30 days, $8 signup payment with a $20 gas card.
Buyer's Edge, free 30 days, $4 signup.
And Red Blossom, free 2 weeks, $17 signup.
Total $29.

I haven't had a chance to look through the freebies for yesterday or today yet. I have laundry hanging on the clothesline.

I took a good look at my dishwasher and it has 3 settings, heavy duty wash, normal wash, and short wash. Since I pre-rinse everything there is not reason for me to be doing the first two, so I am trying it on short wash. The dishes looked clean. I also have never used heat dry, and when it finishes the wash cycle I am turning it off. It would go for another ten minutes or so if I didn't and it basically does nothing since heat dry isn't on.

I don't know how much more we can decrease our electric bill, but I'd like to find out! Once I get that expense cut down as low as possible, than I'll pick a new thing to cut down on and see where that goes.

Today I paid the mortgage my parents took out on their house to pay my medical bills. It is $935 a month and I paid $1000. Then I went to the courthouse and paid the property tax, $364.69. I'm just glad I don't have to pay my parents property tax. Even with their senior exemption, its a few thousand dollars, ouch. One of the benefits of living in the boonies on a 1/3 of an acre piece of land.

I went to the grocery store and bought milk, tomato plants and tidal wave and easy wave petunias, a planned purchase. I didn't make it over to the credit union to deposit the freezer money, but I've put it in a sealed envelope so I have to tear it open to spend it. The extra step will make it easier to not just blindly grab it, I think. Also, I forgot to grab the aluminum cans this morning so didn't do that either. Well, maybe on Monday.

Filled up the car, at $3.05 per gallon, coming to $43, in an 18 gallon tank that had 3 to start with. Still an ouch. I've set aside an extra $10 to put into long-term savings, also.

I cashed out my first survey check, so that will be issued June 1 and will be $49.84. So cool, for just a few hours work. It's all good. Now I best get those tomato plants into the ground and hang some more laundry. It is 75 degrees right now and I can probably dry another load by tonight, maybe two.

Or more accurately had her finger broken by a boy at school. Not on purpose or anything, just horseplay at recess. We were able to get a late night appointment at the after hours pediatric clinic her pediatrician's group has, and the x-rays confirm it is broken. She has to keep a splint on it for two weeks and can't play soccer during those two weeks, and then has to have it checked and if it has healed well can play in the last game. And no P.E., either so she is really bummed.

She's worried that she won't be able to do her school work, she's in the middle of what the kids call W-Awful testing, which is actually WASL testing, our state's No Child Left Behind thing. Next week is the third and final week, and I don't know how she is going to write properly with her hand all splinted and wrapped. I suppose I shouldn't worry too much, she's only in 4th grade.

So, anyway, had to make 2 trips to town today, once for Tobias to work with his dance instructor for his recital solo and then again to the doctor's office. Had to make a co-pay of $15 and did end up having to use my roll of quarters to put gas in the gas tank, for the unexpected trip, but I am putting ten dollars in to the freezer money account tomorrow to replace it. I think I will take my aluminum cans in tomorrow when I do my banking and shopping, so I can deposit that money, too.

Tomorrow is payday and it can't come too soon for me. Today was the electronic funds transfer of $10 into long term savings, bringing that to the $185 I mentioned last night.

I am going to be able to send for a survey check tomorrow, too as everything I've done so far has now come through and I have hit the $40 mark it requires for a check. If I read their thing right, it should come the first week of June.

Today was 60, not much wind, but I hung a load of laundry anyway and the towels that were in the rain yesterday where almost dry by night. I think they ended up wetter then when I hung them up in the first place. But tomorrow is supposed to be like today so I can hang more.

I signed up for a freebie today and that is about it on the frugal zone.

I like these no spend days. Not that I wasn't challenged to spend. The kids had early dismissal from school and of course, they wanted to go somewhere and do something. Not going to happen. I have exactly 2 gallons of gas in the car and $12 to buy gas until Friday and I have to go to town tomorrow so Tobias can meet with his dance teacher, he has a solo in the recital and she wants some extra time with him, and then soccer practice tomorrow night. I will have enough gas for the trip, the half trip and then to get to town on Friday which is payday and I can fill it up again.

I do have a roll of quarters for back up but I do not want to touch that, its supposed to go into my freezer money account on Friday. But I will have it just in case. I already owe the freezer money account the $35 I was supposed to put in and ended up using for gas money. I've tweaked my budget around again so I don't think I'll run out of gas money next time.

I have to pay property tax on Friday, yuck. It is so inconvenient right now to go to the courthouse, there is a big case and there is no parking, but at least I'll be making a town run anyway, so it won't be extra gas wasted.

Last night the weatherman claimed it would just be overcast until early afternoon and then there would be sun, so I hung laundry out this morning and of course, it rained. So I had stuff on my drying rack, stuff on hangers hanging from my shower curtain rod, stuff hanging from the treadmill, stuff on the gazelle and shirts on the backs of all the kitchen chairs. Well, it is drying. I got spoiled by 3 beautiful, sunny days. There's actually still a load of towels hanging on the clothesline but since there is nowhere to dry them, they are staying there until tomorrow and then I will spin them in the washer and hang them in the house. My goal of not using the dryer for the rest of the month has almost made it and I don't want to give in on it yet.

Tomorrow there will be an electronic funds transfer to my long-term savings account of $10, bringing my total to $185. $65 more to go and I can open an ING account and get the free $25 for doing so. I know it seems like such a small amount compared to what some people are saving, but this is still so new for me, and I am proud of myself for doing this much.

I earned $2 for a survey I took today. I am going to sign up for a couple more trial offers tonight after the kids have gone to sleep. One pays $20 and the other $10, so my nice little balance is growing and I will be able to request a check once it hits $40. Unfortunatey its a net30 payoff, so I'll have to wait a bit over a month to get it, but that's okay, it'll be coming and when it does it goes straight into short term savings, which I haven't created yet, but will.

I am actually starting to enjoy this whole saving money thing. I feel like I've gone from passive acceptance to proactive fighting to save and get out of debt.

This weekend has been very interesting in regards to people giving me money. It is tiny little amounts but over the course of 2 days I have been given inexact change 3 times. In one instance I was given a dime in change instead of the six cents I was owed because they were out of nickles and were running low on pennies. I was only owed 4 cents. Then I was given a nickle instead of 4 cents, so I was up one more penny. Then a lady asked me if I had change for a dollar. I only had 90 cents in change on me and she said that was okay and gave me a dollar for my 90 cents. So all in all I was up 17 cents and I count it as extra income that will eventually end up in my freezer money account. I know it isn't much, but its free money.

It seems so odd to me why people are not concerned with the little amounts. I always pick up a penny if I see it on the ground, but I have seen people drop quarters and not retrieve them because its "just a little" change. I pick them up because that one penny may be the difference between being able to roll up a packet of pennies this week or waiting until next week to do it. I think that kind of mentality must come into play on the bigger amounts too, if you get in the habit of throwing your money away because it isn't that much.

I feel like I've been guilty of this a little bit. I kind of had the thinking of why save $10 a week, it won't add up to much, but I'm over it. As I watch it start adding up, I get such a feeling of glee. It feels like I am accomplishing something, making steps forward to free myself from the tyranny of debt and no emergency backup savings.

Anyway, the extra money went into my coin jar, including the dollar bill I got for 90 cents. That's ten percent interest. Wow. I wonder if anyone would give me $100 in exchange for change of $90. I don't think so. I think they would think it was ridiculous. But I bet they would think the .90 cents for 1.00 was nothing.

Well, I took care of the Allstate problem and the credit union took their check and then they cashed it into my account. I was under the impression that they were just going to refund my money and keep the Allstate check. They said no, because they were at fault for letting the insurance take the automatic payment too early and since this is not the first time I've talked to the CU about it, and since it is flagged on my account to not let that happen, they were going to give me the $14 for my troubles. This is why I love this place. I wish it had been this easy for the other poster who has been trying to get their money from a bank error.

Anyway, I put the $50 from earlier in this week into long term savings at CU #2, which brings the total there up to $175. I didn't deposit the $19 into the freezer money account yet, since it was on a different side of town and I'll be over there on Monday. I am also going to take the $14 and add it, along with $2 more to deposit a total of $35 into the freezer money account at CU #3.

I did the rest of my usual payday stuff, including fill up the gas tank. I still had 4 gallons left, so filling it the remaining 14 gallons took $40. Almost all the stations are at or above $3.00 a gallon, but I checked that gas buddy website someone posted the other day and there was one just a mile from the CU I was at, that had it for $2.83 a gallon, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been but it was still completely awful.

I went to sprawlmart, and bought 30 strawberry plants (they were $2.42 for ten) in 3 different varieties and 2 thornless blackberry plants ($4.95 each), some more lettuce and about $30 worth of flowers (one being a dark purple rhodie that I have wanted for 3 years and had finally budgeted for a small one at $10.94. I could have gotten two smaller ones for $9, but the larger plants don't take as long to establish themselves and the spread on these things is pretty large, I'm not sure what I'd do with two.

All but one of the flowers I got are perrenials, the other one is an annual but it spreads like crazy. I will be getting wave petunias next payday. They are usually the only annuals I ever bother with, as the payoff is big. Well, and lobelia and allysum, but I plant those from seed.

Then I stopped and bought some more chenille yarn for knitting, making scarves for possible future income. I had a bit of insomnia last night so I stayed up watching court tv and knitting and I'm over halfway through with the new scarf.

It was raining all morning but the sun is out now and it is beautiful so I finally get to hang laundry outside today, instead of inside. Oh, shoot, I knew I forgot something. I was going to get another drying rack for inside. Well, maybe while Rose is at dance and Tobias is at my mother's I can zip over to Kmart and get one. Then we will stop at the grocery on the way home and get a gallon of organic milk.

The only spending I will do the rest of the weekend is a pizza after soccer since I promised the kids we would do that once a month and this is the week they have chosen. I have a coupon though and its even to the place that doesn't use stuff that Rose is allergic to, so that works out.

Well, gas prices have hit over $3.00 a gallon here so I will not be making any extra trips to town. I wanted to go in today, but I cannot justify it when I have to make a half trip today for soccer practice, a trip tomorrow and one on Saturday. Used to be I would make two runs on the first Friday of DH's pay cycle, one in the morning to do all the banking and a Costco run while the kids are in school, and then back in again in the evening for Rose's dance class.

I have set up an automatic funds transfer to send $10 to my long term savings account every Thursday, so that brings that account up to $125 as of today. I will have to pick the kids up from school tomorrow instead of waiting for the school bus to come so I can get into town early enough to do the banking. So I won't be able to deposit the $50 in my wallet into long term savings until tomorrow, or the $19 into the freezer money until Monday. These credit unions are on opposite sides of town and both close at 5. I can only get there as soon as 4:30. At least my checking account CU has a drive-thru that stays open until 7, so no worries there.

Fortunately the school is on the route between my house and town so there is no backtracking or wasting of gas. And on Monday the freezer money CU is on the way to Tobias's dance class, so again, no backtracking or wasting of gas.

I will save my Costco run for Saturday after the soccer games. I hate, hate, hate going to Costco on Saturday. On Friday I can do all my shopping, wait in line, and get out to the parking lot in the same amount of time it takes me just to wait in line for the cash register on Saturday.

Come to think of it, though, I'm not really out of anything I need from Costco. Maybe I can just skip the run this month. I think it has just gotten to be a habit to go once a month. My freezer is full, now that the produce market is open it beats Costco prices, and I'm trying to eat down my pantry, and I still have plenty of Omega 3 eggs, Kleenex tissue or T.P., so there isn't a real reason for me to go, other than entertainment value (which can get expensive).

Hmm, maybe I should challenge myself to get through this pay cycle without going to Costco at all. That could definitely save me some money. Okay, so that will be my goal for this pay cycle, along with cutting out extra town runs to save gas.

Today was my first no spend day since joining this site. Didn't pay a bill, use a stamp, drive anywhere, or spend money in any way. That feels pretty good. Especially knowing there probably won't be another one until Sunday. But that is all right.

I did a couple of surveys today and signed up for a couple of freebies. Hung a load of laundry (inside). I am hoping that tomorrow will be sunny. It kept sprinkling off and on all day, but with gorgeous sun breaks. I can only do one load in the house, but outside I can do 3. Maybe I should get a second drying rack from Kmart.

I read somewhere on here about having the washing machine do a second spin and I cannot believe how much faster the clothes dry. This is something that simply never occurred to me before, but makes so much sense.

I have decided that any cash I have leftover in my purse on Friday (payday) will be deposited into my freezer money savings. Right now that is $19, but I may have to buy milk tomorrow. I am going to try to stretch it out. I have enough for Rose for tomorrow, but that is it. Well, I have plenty of yogurt and cheese in the fridge, so I guess the rest of us can do without until grocery shopping in two days.

I did some more knitting on my scarf. I've got an idea in my head of somewhere down the road being able to sell these. I don't know how practical it is, but it might be something to bring in a little income. Everyone who ever sees one loves it. Everyone I've given one to for Christmas said how incredibly warm they are and love the vivid colors. And they wore them all the time.

I had a lot of fun doing them, and made them his and hers, so they played off the spouse's scarf, but were not identical. I wouldn't even know where to begin though in trying to sell them. Maybe one of the seasonal craft bizarres they have in the fall.

I've been considering selling stuff on ebay. Not the scarves necessarily, although I suppose that is an option, but I have a ton of dance shoes (tap, ballet, jazz) that my kids have outgrown and most of them are in excellent shape, seeing as how fast their feet grow they aren't in them long and that dance shoes are only worn inside the studio. I've got several fancy leotards my daughter has outgrown and some really fancy recital costumes.

Those of you who sell on ebay, how do you figure out shipping costs? Do you have a postal scale in your home or do you have something worked out where you go down to the post office or shipping place, weigh it and then wait for someone to buy it before having postage put on, or what? I'm sure this is pretty silly of a question but I tend to get nervous when I start something new and don't have all the info first, so I can work out ahead of time what I will say when I get there.

Today I rolled up the change in my change jar and deposited it in credit union #3. It came to $33.50 and it goes into my new freezer fund, bringing my total to $54.50. Goodness, it is ridiculous how utterly thrilled with myself I am about saving money. It used to be more thrilling to spend it. I still have to make my $10 deposit to credit union #2 this week, but won't do that until Thursday.

I transplanted my snow peas, spinach, chard (bright lights), lettuce and garlic and I have homemade cloches (okay, they are green Sprite bottles with the bottoms cut off and the lids left off, but they work) available if the weather swings too cold again. Today is a balmy 55 degrees F, so I hope this cold business is over now.

I'll wait until the beginning of May to plant my green beans. I don't have enough cloches for those since I try to plant enough green beans to can for at least a six month supply and to eat fresh all summer. I lost some once by planting to soon in April before and then getting hit with a hard freeze. I do learn from my mistakes. I'll plant kohlrabi seeds in another week as they can stand a bit of cold. I adore them and they are so incredibly expensive in the grocery. And they taste much better from my organic garden.

I try to keep my produce budget as low as possible once my garden is producing. I have strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, bush cherries, sweet tree cherries, an apple tree, 2 pear trees and an Italian plum tree, so something is usually bearing fruit all summer and I freeze the excess. Veggies vary yearly, based on what I learned from the year before. It helps a lot, but I am going to be even more aggressive this year and see if I can't can or freeze enough for a whole year. I don't like being at the mercy of store prices.